INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



1 HE material from which the following Catalogue has been compiled 

 is mainly the result of an expedition to the Canaries undertaken by 

 John Gray, Esq., and myself, in his yacht ' The Miranda,' at the com- 

 mencement of 1858, in which we visited all the islands of the archi- 

 pelago except Grand Canary. We reached Teneriffe on the 8th of 

 January, and were immediately joined by the Rev. R. T. Lowe (who 

 was passing the winter at Orotava), and set sail at once for Lanza- 

 rote. As it was part of Mr. Gray's programme to make a detour by 

 the West Indies on his homeward route, he left us at the end of Feb- 

 ruary ; from which date, until the following July, Mr. Lowe and I 

 continued incessantly at our respective vocations (which were, chiefly, 

 Botany and Coleoptera) — at first in Tenerifie, but afterwards in Grand 

 Canary and Palma, exploring many remote regions (more or less diffi- 

 cult of access) which abundantly repaid us for the many obstacles 

 which were sure to beset the progress of English travellers in such 

 little-frequented spots. 



Encouraged by the success I met with during this first trip, I again 

 left England at the end of the same year, and, joining the Rev. R. T. 

 Lowe at Madeira, arrived once more (in company with him) at Tene- 

 rifie, on the 5th of February 1859 ; and, after a fortnight's delay at 

 S** Cruz, a second time embarked for Lanzarote. Our researches, 

 now, were continued principally in that island and Fuerteventura ; 

 though, after Mr. Lowe's departure for England on April the 19th, 



